NOTE ON MEDHAŊKARA

There are at least four Medaŋkaras famous in the literary history of Ceylon. The first flourished about 1200 A.D., and was the author of the 'Vinyārthasamuccaya' in Siŋhalese. The second was the Āraññaka Medhaŋkara, who presided over the Council held by Parākrama Bāhu III. about 1250 A.D. The third was the scholar to whose care Parākrama Bāhu the IVth entrusted his translation of the Jātaka book into Siŋhalese 'that it might be preserved in the line of the succession of his pupils' ('Mahāvaŋsa,' chap. xl., ver. 86). The fourth was our author, Vanaratana Medhaŋkara (who was also the author of the 'Payoyasiddhi,' also in Pali), and who flourished under Bhuvaneka Bāhu the Ist (1277-1288 A.D.)

Saŋgharāja Medhaŋkara, author of the 'Lokappadīpakasāra (Journal of the P.T.S., 1882, p. 126; 1896, p. 43), was different from all of the above, and wrote in Burma ('Gandha Vaŋsa,' p. 67). He is called Nava Medhaŋkara (ibid., p. 64).

Medhaŋkara is mentioned as the author of the 'Jina Carita' in the 'Saddhama-saŋgaha,' ix., 22 (Journal of the P.T.S., 1890, p. 63), and in the 'Gandha Vaŋsa,' pp. 62, 72 (Journal of the P.T.S., 1886).

12 a prince called by name Sumedha, who had traversed the ocean of the Veda. This nascent Buddha, on the death of his parents,

13 Having beheld the great wealth piled up in hundreds of chambers by the treasurer,

14 piled up the treasures, and cried: 'See, my father and the rest of my kin have gone to the world of gods without taking one small coin with them!'

15 The Mine of Mercy grew sad at this, and thought: 'Although I have received all this store of wealth, I too must go.'

16 He sat down in solitude, in his own beautiful house, examining the blemishes in his body, and thus admonishing himself:

17 'Painful is the breaking-up of the body, painful also is its beginning; I am subject to birth, to old age, to disease.'

18 With these and like reflections, having seen in many ways the blemishes in his body, he sent the drum beating about the city and sent word to the King.

19 At the sound of the drums the beggars flocked together, as bees to a sweet scent, and for seven days he gratified them with the flood of the filaments of alms.

20 When he saw that although the precious gifts fell like a shower of snowflakes, the lotus-plantation of treasures was not exhausted,

21 amidst the tears of his kinsfolk, as a royal elephant flees from a forest blazing with fire, the great hero departed from his delightful house,

22 and came to the mighty Himalaya, perfumed with scents of yellow sandal, camphor, and aloes,

23 adorned with blossoming champak and asoka, trumpet-flower and tilak, areca-nut and punnāga, ironwood, and other trees,

24 filled with lions, tigers, hyænas, with elephants, cheetahs, and apes, with horses and other beasts,

25 full of the notes of maynahs and sunswans, of swans, herons, and parrots, of pigeons and cuckoos and vultures,

26 haunted by goblins, demons, heavenly musicians, gods and fairies, beings full of accomplishment and knowledge,

27 shining with great ranges of beautiful mountains all vermilion and sapphire, mountains of silver and gold,

28 brilliant with many a tank, provided with steps and
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stages of jewels and gold, with many a nymph divine dallying there,

29 irradiated with the spray from hundreds of secret cool cascades, delightful nooks full of fays and Nāgas,

30 with flocks of dancing peacocks and festoons of creepers, and garlands of white sand,

31 a treasure-mine of gold, jewels, and pearls, an abode of merit for those who desire it, as bees desire pollen.

32 Entered there, the brave one beheld in it the requisites for the ascetic, produced by Him of the Thousand Eyes, fine leaf-huts;

33 he adopted the ascetic garb, and he abode there for the space of seven days, stedfast in the Five Transcendent Faculties and the Eight Precepts.

34 In the joy of Attainment thus produced, the holy ascetic one day, passing through the air, saw some people

35 sweeping the road. Descending then from the air, he asked the people: 'Why do ye sweep the road?'

36 'O Sumedha, knowest thou not? The Tathāgata Dīpaṅkara has attained to Supreme Might, and has set rolling the Supreme Wheel of the Law;

37 'he makes the Canon of the Law for the world, and has reached the fair city Beautiful, and here dwells in Sudassana.

38 'We have invited him with our alms, the ruler of the world, and his four hundred thousand Brethren pure.

39 'For his coming, O thou of supernatural might, we sweep the path.' Thus spoke these people, giving joy to his ear.

40 On hearing the word Buddha, the mine of virtues, highly delighted in mind, could not keep in his usual state,

41 and the hero, asking a portion of the road which the other had begun, was given a rough place and began to make it smooth.

42 Before that spot had been made ready by him, the one Lord of the world, worshipt by men and immortals alike, benefactor of the world, the great sage, entered upon the road with the pious ones.

43 Then as he saw there approaching the Tathāgata, blazing with six-coloured rays, happy in heart, he thought:

44 'What if I make a bridge in the mud, and prostrate
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myself before this hero, the great sage, with his company?

45 For a long time it will suffice for my blessing and happiness.' With this thought, the nascent Conqueror fell down,

46 and raising his lovely lotus-eyes, he looked; and again, as he lay there, thus the courageous one thought:

47 'Should I wish, I could destroy the endless turmoil of existence, and become a novice of the Order, and enter the noble city.

48 'What use in disguise? By the extinction of sin, I having become a Buddha like this Buddha, supreme in the world,

49 will ferry the people in the ship of the Law across the ocean of existence, and bring them to the City of Nirvāna, my own happiness being extinguished.'

50 Thus thinking, prostrate there in the mud, he gleamed like a golden plantain stem,

51 beholding the beautiful form of the Buddha, shining with the six-coloured rays, the hero, jubilant with the joys that arose in him, longed for Buddhahood.

52 When he came to the place, and saw the sage prostrate in the dirt, he who had been the Bridge of the World, seeing the other made a bridge for him,

53 the hero, the Tathāgata Dīpaṅkara, the one Bridge of the World, the World's one Eye, stood at his head, and spake:

54 'In time to come, this man shall be a supreme Buddha, Gotama by name,' and revealed his disciples, his native city, and so forth.

55 This said and done, with his Order the pious one did obeisance to him, moving about him rightwise, and offered to him eight handfuls of flowers.

56 Having done this, the ruler of the world with his company went to the city named Rammaka, a place beautiful with monasteries and houses.

57 The other, hearing the Conqueror's speech, arose from the dust, delighted, and reverenced by the hosts of the gods with offerings of flowers and other things,

58 and crossing his legs, sat down on the couch of flowers, the most austere, the most wise, Sumedha, conqueror of sense.

59 The gods in ten thousand spheres, delighted, praised the hero seated on the flowery couch.

60 As he sat, he pondered on the qualities which make
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a Buddha: whether above or below, at the four cardinal or the four intermediate points.

61 Thus meditating, he apprehended all the elements of the Law, his own image, and first the Perfections of Giving;

62 seeking further and further the Perfections in wisdom, he beheld all the Perfections by his eye of understanding;

63 and passing through successive transmigrations, he endured great suffering, seeking Nirvāna in tranquillity by fulfilling the Perfections of Giving;

64 this chief of givers was like a magic tree, or a magic wishing-jewel, giving to the world all their desires, food or what not.

65 He tore out his beautiful eyes, like stars in the sky, and joyfully gave them to those who asked;

66 The flesh of his own body and his blood he gave, as much as the dust of the earth and the water of the sea,

67 heads adorned with diadems, great as Mount Sineru, he gave, shaking the earth, and sons and wives to boot.

68 He fulfilled the Precepts, the Separation, the Wisdom, all the Perfections, he attained the Vessantara existence; and being born again from that place,

69 he came into being in the fair abode of the gods, the city of Tusita. There he dwelt for a long time, enjoying infinite happiness.

70 The gods in humble obeisance, made this request of the greatest of men: 'O mighty one, it is time for thee to become Buddha.'

71 He examined time and circumstances, and recognised that it was the time for Buddhahood, then giving his promise to the assembly of the gods, to the forest of Nandana,

72 he went with the hosts of the gods, and went to heaven, vanishing from this world amidst their praises, that wise one; vanishing thence, here,

73-5 in the picturesque city of Kapila, crowded with great coursers finely caparisoned, full of gaily-decked shops and wares, bright with beautiful tall lordly elephants, adorned with myriads of arches and banners, with spacious halls and watchtowers, with strong gates, the abode of fair women, laughing to scorn even the city of Purinda (India); to Suddhodana, lord of men, protector of the helpless, one of Okkāka's royal stock,
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the abode of many pure virtues, or lotus haunted by bees like jewels on Kings' heads,

76 the Most Wise showed in a dream a gold-coloured elephant like the pure moon, with a trunk like a pure white silver wreath, a noble festoon of white lotus;

77-8 he entered the womb of the King's wife Māyā; lips like bimba-fruit she had, eyes like the flowering blue lotus, her eyebrows like the rainbow an ever-increasing delight, her mouth like a beautiful pure full moon, her breasts like a pair of golden geese, her feet like fair lotus shoots, the colour of her body shining like the colour of gold; adorned was she with the ornaments of many a virtue and good custom.

79 At the instant of his conception, beings manifold were born, and thereupon protection was assumed by men and immortals.

80 Like an image of gold seated in the pericarp of a lovely red lotus, all golden-coloured the chief of men sat cross-legged in his mother's womb.

81 Like a red thread strung through a clear jewel, the Wise One is seen causing his mother's mind to blossom.

82 At the end of ten months, thus spake the Queen to the King: 'I desire, O King, to go to the home of my family.'

83 With the King's consent, she goes to her family with a large retinue, by a road which seemed to be divine.

84 Seeing a grove of sâl-trees adorned with a multitude of fragrant flowers, echoing with the sound of clusters of murmuring intoxicated bees, with a flock of bright-eyed birds, which seemed to invite her, the Lumbini Wood, a spacious place of delight,

85 she felt a very great desire for that fair spot. So with a charming step, like a divine maiden, she approached the root of a blossoming sâl-tree, and grasped a branch, which of itself bent low.

86 At that moment, the pangs of labour seized her; then her people ran up and surrounded the lady with screens; this done, they retired apart. Then

87 she stood firm, and clinging to the branch by her red hand, soft as cotton, with its row of shining red nails, adorned with fine bracelets and ornaments of gold, brought forth the Wise One;

88 who, his body shining with a golden hue, fair to the eye, incomparable, his beautiful hands and feet fully
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extended, came forth from the womb of the incomparable mother, like a golden goose emerging from a lotus.

89 The Brahmas brought a beautiful priceless net of gold, and approaching, received him, and standing before her, said: 'Rejoice, O Queen! of thee is born a most excellent son.'

90 Other men are born with their limbs smeared in filth; but the excellent lord of men was born pure, like a jewel lovely and priceless laid in a piece of fine Benares cloth.

91 This done, down from the sky came two streams of water upon the body of the Beloved and on his mother's body, washing away the pollution to make all auspicious.

92 From their hand the delightful gods bringing a skin rug received the hero on a cushion of fine cloth, from their hand the best of men received that lion-king among men;

93 From their hand, a beautiful and pure moon, he stood firm upon the earth, his great feet marked with circles, and gazed with lotus-eyes at the eastern quarter.

94 The hundreds of spheres became as one court yard; men and immortals together worshipping the Wise One with perfumes and like offerings, and thus they spake:

95 'There is no man like unto thee, O wise one: how then can there be one superior?' Thus the Lord of the World, seeing in this quarter not one like himself,

96 took seven paces towards the nook, and said: 'I am the chief of the world, choicest and best.'

97 At the words of this voice, incomparable and supreme, all did worship to the King of men—deities, Titans, and Brahmins, and the great company went to the fair-decorated city called Kapila.

98 At the instant of the birth of this noble one, the earth, although able to bear the exceeding great burden of trees, hills, and Mount Meru, and all the water of the ocean, could not bear the weight of his merits, and did quake;

99 dogs sported with deer, crows with owls, in high delight, great serpents with mighty garula birds, and hosts of cats with rats,

116 everywhere doors and windows opened of their own accord, and men bound with fetters and chains were set free;

117 then in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, the company of the gods made merry in much joy, waving their scarves unceasingly and crying,

118 'News! in the city of Kapilavatha is born a son to Suddhodana; he is seated upon the circle of the Bo-tree, and he will become Buddha.'

119 The mighty and most wise ascetic Kāladevala, the trusted adviser of the wise King Suddhodana,

120 after his meal had gone to the dwelling of the Thirty-Three, and there sat him down for the rest of the day.

121 He beheld them there sporting in festive costume, and asked them the reason of their joy, and they told him.

122 The sage, hearing this as it truly was, enraptured with joy, at once went to the dwelling of Suddhodana,

123 and entering, sat down upon a goodly seat, and said: 'They tell me, O great King, that a son is born to thee, incomparable, wise:

124 'I wish to see him.' The King caused the boy to be sent for in his fine array, to salute the sage;

125 But child though he was, by the power of his virtue his fair lotus-feet uprose and placed themselves upon the ascetic's head.

126 In that position of the chief of men, no one in the three worlds must be worshipt: if the head of the lord of the three worlds had been placed under the ascetic's feet,

127 the ascetic's head would assuredly have burst asunder. He therefore stood with his hands claspt in supplication to the wise Ocean of Virtues, because he had not thought fit to destroy him.

128 The lord of men seeing this marvel, done by his own son the god of gods, gladly adored his soft lotus-feet, marked with various devices.

129 When the King's great sowing festival came on, the city was adorned like a city of the gods; and all the people in fair attire gathered at his noble dwelling-place.

130 Then the King, at the head of his people, thus fair adorned, took his son adorned with beauty, and with
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a hero's grace went out to the incomparable sowing festival.

131 All the nurses went away to look on at the festival, leaving the child alone at the foot of a rose-apple tree, covered by a canopy painted in many colours.

132 Seated beneath the canopy, bright with gold, and shining with golden stars, at the root of the rose-apple-tree, the wise one took the opportunity and fell into ecstatic meditation.

133 The nurses returning, beheld him seated like an image of gold, and his splendour; and they said to the King, 'Such and such a marvel hae been done by thy son.'

134 When he heard this of the lotus-eyed one, whose mouth is like the bright moon, he said, 'A second time I must worship him,' and set his head at his son's feet.

135 Beside these, other marvels took place also in the world, shown forth by me in due course in the compass of the book, reluctant though I am:

136 where were quantities of houses, glorious with all manner of gems, glorious with canopies and couches in plenty, fair with long flights of stairs and wide storeys, made ready to suit the three seasons,

137 multitudes of fine houses with rows of pinnacles, one row as it were always defying another, forests of lotus like rays of sunlight, illuminating the lotus faces of the folk;

138 by those walls inset with gems women adorn their bodies without even the reflexion of a mirror;

139 where is seen a circuit painted with whitewash, fair to the eye like Mount Kelāsa,

140 where is always seen a moat covered with lotus, with a great circuit of sapphire, set with many gems;

141 there he dwelt, the one all-seeing, until he came to maturity enjoying all delights. In going to the park for sport, upon the high-road

142 he saw successively the three states of existence—old age, disease, and death, and was disgusted; on a fourth occasion he saw with pleasure in the same place the welcome form of an ascetic.

143 The illustrious one went to the beautiful grove, lovely as the forest of Nandana, thick with multitudes of flowering trees, and echoing with the notes of flocks of peacocks and other birds.

144 There the royal chief of men, with a hero's grace, enjoyed the delightful playing, singing, and dancing of fair women like goddesses.

145 Seating himself cross-legged on a fair seat, he thought that he would cause his person to be adorned.

146 The King of the Gods, perceiving his thought, said to Vissakamma, 'Do thou adorn Siddhattha.'

147 At his command, Vissakamma approached, and wrapt the shining head of the glorious one with ten thousand shawls,

148 and his shining body, glorious with its unequalled marks, he made beautiful with variegated robes and ornaments, and with the sweet perfume of fragrant blue lotus, sandal, and other such.

149 Adorned by him, himself also adorned, he sat on a spotless slab of stone, attended by fair women like goddesses, and shining like the King of the gods.

150 A glad message was sent by King Suddhodana: 'A son is born to thee, my son!' Hearing this, the chief of men

151 replied, 'To me this day a fetter is born,' and forthwith amid all the joys of success he returned to the beautiful city.

152 Then Kisāgotamī, in the upper story of the palace, saw the King shining like the sun, and thus she spake:

153 'Whoever are the parents of this steadfast one, whosoever is the wife of the noble one, happy are they all, yea, always happy.'

154 When he heard this pleasant speech uttered by her, gladdened within with joy, he went to his house,

155 he loosed from his neck the great necklace, cool, pure, exquisitely beautiful, and sent it to her;

156 then mounting to the terrace, lovely as Vejayanta, he reclined upon his precious seat like the King of the gods.

157 A company of fair women, like goddesses, attending on him, performed all manner of dances and songs;

158 but the wise one, longing for the ascetic life, free from the fine desires, cared nought even for dances and songs so lovely as these,

159 but after lying there on the couch awhile to rest, the hero, the mighty King, sat up cross-legged,

160 and sitting there, he beheld the changes that had come over the sleeping girls. Frightened at the thought
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of mortal life, he said, 'I will go now!' and passed through the fair doorway.

161 Channa lay with his head on the fair threshold, for he thought, 'I shall hear my master's call'; and as he lay there, that most righteous friend and counsellor, giver of joy, bringer of good,

162 the prince called him and said, 'Make ready the thoroughbred horse Kantaka, and bring him hither.'

163 Channa listened to the order given to him, and went quickly and caparisoned the thoroughbred, and brought him.

164 The noble steed, thus made ready by him, knowing that his master was to leave the world, uttered a neigh:

165 that sound filled the whole city, but the gods one and all kept it from the hearing of any.

166 Then the delight of the virtuous thought, 'First I will go and see my own precious son, then I will become a Buddha.'

167 With this thought, he proceeded to his wife's apartments, and standing upon the threshold, thrust his head within.

168 He beheld his own son, lying like his mother upon a bed strewn with flowers, with the bed of the King of heaven;

169 seeing which the supreme ruler thought to himself: 'If I take my son from the Queen's arms,

170 'Yasodharā might awaken from her great love, and cause delay in my leaving the world.

171 'When I have become a Buddha, I will return and see my son.' Then the lord of men came down from the upper storey.

172 Yasodharā had lovely lotus-like face, hands, and feet, laughter like the foam, brows like shining wavelets, eyes like the blue lotus; she was like the moon; all eyes were attracted to her like so many bees:

173 Who that enjoyed possession of her body would renounce it, save this steadfast one, standing at the summit of perfection?

174 'I have brought the horse, sire: observe the time, lord of chariots!' so spake Channa to the glorious ruler of the earth.

175 The lord of the earth heard what Channa had spoken;
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down from the palace he came, and went to Kanthaka.

176 To him spoke thus he who delights to do good to all beings: 'Kanthaka, in this one night convey me over gods and men.

177 'I will become supreme Buddha, and escape from the world, from the ocean of existence, the terrors of decay, the multitude of monstrous growths.'

178 With these words he mounted his thoroughbred steed, white as a conch shell, and caused Channa to grasp its strong tail.

179 When he came to the great gate, he thought: 'If the gate will not open by any means,

180 'with Channa holding fast by his tail, I will press Kanthaka with my thighs, I will leap over the lofty shining wall, and begone.' So thought the mighty one.

181 Thus the strong one, and Channa, and the noble steed, each in his own heart thought of the way to get over the wall.

182 But the gods who inhabited the gate, perceiving his thought, and delighted at his happy going, then set the gate open.

183 Then Death thought, 'I will make this Siddhattha no Siddhattha'; and approaching, poised in air, he thus addrest him:.

184 'Go not forth, O most wise! On the seventh day from now the divine treasure of the Wheel shall surely be made manifest.'

191 Behind him and before and on either side there went in reverence great serpents and garula birds;

192 here great host of gods, showering from the sky like rain showers of lovely blossoms, coming from the ten thousand worlds, exult exceedingly over the tender-bodied one;

193 on the bright and beautiful road, all sweet-scented goodly flowers, and aromatic powder, golden flags, where the noble royal steed as he went, entangled in flowers, could not go at speed,

194 thus he proceeded upon that lovely path of thirty leagues, amidst all this festivity, for the remainder of the night.

195 Reaching the bank of the river Anoma, he dismounted from his horse, upon a pure cool expanse of ground,

196 and having rested, thus he spoke: 'Go, Channa, to your own city, and take with you my ornaments and the horse.'

197 Standing there, the all-wise one with his sword exceeding sharp cut off his fragrant hair, and cast it up to the sky.

198 He of the thousand eyes received the hair-relic as it rose into the sky, in a fair golden casket, bowing his head in reverence,

199 and in the Thirty-Three he set up a crest-gem shrine, delightful to the eye, made of sapphire, a league in height.

200 The noble Eight Requisites were brought by Brahma, and cast down as it were from the air, and the goodly pair of robes:

201 taking these, great Brahma made in Brahma's world a beautiful robe-stupa twelve leagues in height.

202 The hero went to the mango-grove named Anupiya, and there spent seven days, in the bliss of retirement from the world.

203 One day he proceeded along the thirty-league road as far as Rājagaha, where he went about piously seeking alms.

204 Then the walls and gates, by his radiance, appeared as if made of gold and set with sapphires.

205 The crowds of people, full of excitement, when they saw him, asked again and again: 'Who is this? Is it Sakka, or Brahma, Māra or a Serpent?'

206 Having entered and obtained food enough for his
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living, he went along the high-road, looking before him no further than a yoke's length;

207 and leaving the people there perplext, as the sea is churned with the churning-stick of Mount Meru, he went to the Paṇḍava mountain,

208 where, seated under its shadow on a lovely spot, he began to eat the mingled food.

209 By contemplation, the wise and mighty one restrained the snake of his bowels from leaving the anthill of his body.

210 After eating, having been many times offered the kingdom by the great King Bimbisāra, the chief of men visited him.

211 He declined the kingdom; but when the King prayed, 'When you have become supreme Buddha, declare the Lord to me,'

212 he gave his promise to the lord of mankind. The wise one then retired to the cloister, and there performed exceeding great marvels and wonders. Then considering a little,

213 after partaking of plentiful meat and drink, and growing stout of body, like a god he came to the foot of the Ajapāla banyan tree.

214 There he sat, the giver of light, facing the east; and by the colour of his body, that banyan took on the colour of gold.

215 Then a fair woman named Sujātā, her prayer fulfilled, came to him, bearing upon her head a golden bowl full of rice and milk, and bowing before him, said:

216 'I present an oblation to the spirit which dwells in this tree.' Then, seeing this incomparable man,

217 and conceiving that he was a god, joyful at heart, she gave the bowl of food to the noble one, saying, 'As my prayer was fulfilled, so may thine be, my lord.'

218 With these words, the beautiful woman departed thence. And the sage taking the bowl of food,

219 went to the bank of the river Nerañjarā, and when he had eaten the choice food, cast her fair bowl against the current.

220 The noble being then proceeded to the incomparable grove, delightful as Sakka's grove of Nandana, adorned with clusters of full-flowering trees, which, like clusters of bees, captivated the onlooker's mind and eye.

243 'This prince desires to escape from my dominion: well, I will make Siddhattha no Siddhattha.'

244 He then created a thousand great and horrible arms, and with them seized all manner of gleaming weapons; he mounted upon his magnificent and fierce elephant, a hundred and fifty leagues high, named Girimekhala.

245 He then, attended by an army provided with all manner of weapons; having many mouths, with flame-coloured hair, and great round protruding red eyes, their mouths awful, snakes issuing from their breasts,

246 thither he came, roaring with a fearful sound: 'Seize you Siddhattha, and bind him!' Such was their command. At the sight, the assembly of gods was scattered, like flecks of cotton blown by a violent wind.

247 Then Death created a harsh sound like deep thunder, and a wind; but he could not so much as move a corner of the fair robe of that blessed one.

248 Then he caused to descend a horrible and terrific rain, swift as that which falls at the destruction of an age; but could not make one drop come near to the incomparable one. Seeing that wonder, the foul-mouthed one,

249 with a great and blazing conflagration of fire, showered down rocks, ashes and mud, weapons, and fiery coals, and sand; but all these things,

250 by Māra's power precipitated from the sky, when they came nigh to him of transcendent merit, became like garlands of flowers. He then created a horrible black darkness, like that

251 of limbo; but by the splendour of his beautiful body, the darkness of delusion was turned into lovely and
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glorious light, like the sun in his radiance. Seeing this, the Evil One,

252 his face inflamed with anger, his eyebrows twitching, his dress in hideous disorder, bearing the disc-weapon,

253 exceeding sharp, like a knife, which would cut through even the noble King Meru like a thick sprout. This he cast at the mine of virtue, but it could do him no harm; but in a moment, as it passed through the air, became a canopy over his head.

254 Rocky peaks, blazing with fire, thrown by the host, passing through the air became, as it were, a mass of garlands.

267 Thus did the mighty hero, sitting upon the immovable seat, scatter the host of Māra while the sun was still high.

268 In the first watch, the supreme one obtained knowledge of former existences, in the middle watch divine insight,

269 and then in the last watch he went through the Chain of Causation, until he grasped that knowledge thoroughly.

270 At dawn, all the hundred systems of worlds shouted together. Becoming Buddha all-wise, he of the lotus-eyes, all wise,

271 he uttered this hymn of praise, moved with joy (sādiso?), 'I have traversed a succession of many births'; and so forth.

272 Then, perceiving the many virtues of that seat, he said: 'I shall not yet arise from this seat.'

273 The Teacher achieved the Attainment in millions of phases, sitting there for seven days on the unshaken seat.

274-5 There arose a doubt in the minds of certain gods, who thought: 'The glorious Siddhattha must have some other duty to perform, that is why he does not leave this seat.' Perceiving their thought, and desiring to set their minds at rest,

276 the Ruler uprose like a golden pheasant, gold-coloured, light-giving, and ascending into the air, he worked a wonder.

277 When by this means he had fully reassured the minds of the gods, for seven days he stood with unwinking lotus-eyes venerating the bo-tree and the seat of victory.

278 Then, walking up and down in the noble arcade, bright with gems, like a storehouse of precious things, the pure one investigated the pure doctrine.

279 Then beneath the noble ajapāla-tree he caused the pure lotus-faces of Māra's women to fade, and beneath the mucalinda-tree he caused the serpent-King's thoughts to expand like lotus-blossoms,

280 and beneath the rājāyatana-tree, the wise one, so fair in hue, gave himself up to the uninterrupted enjoyment of Attainment for nine-and-forty days.

281 He then used the water of Anotatta, a tooth-cleaner of betel-vine, and the goodly myrobolan drug brought by the King of the gods.

298 Then from the hundreds of world-systems he assembled throngs of Brahmas and gods, and with them came before the Teacher.

299 He kneeled upon his knee in that place, and folded his hands upon his head, crying: 'Let the Blessed One declare the Law.'

300 At his request, the conqueror, omniscient, lotus-lipped, beheld with his divine eye the hundreds of world-systems,

301 and then, seeing how few mortals there were whose lusts were small, he divided them into two parts by the principle of good and evil:

302 rejecting the evil, he assembled the good by his wisdom, and said: 'Let each person now bring his own vessel of faith:

303 'I will fill it with this immortal gift of gospel.' He sent forth upon the company of Brahma rays of words divine.

304 Then the bright one rose over the ajapāla-tree like the sun of wisdom rising in the sky over the eastern mountain, and shining bright like the light of jewels, emitted bright rays of wisdom.

305-7 Then, gladdening Upaka and others, the glorious ascetic passed along the road eighteen leagues in length, by the flowering trees, to the incomparable deerpark, filled continually with the humming of swarms of busy bees, and the murmurs of many a bird, perfumed with the scent of full-blown lotus; then the Five Brahmins, seeing the god of gods, the ruler of the three existences, who sees to the ends of the world, the Blest One, the fair-limbed, the hero, the sage, the lion-king, devised this evil plot.

308 'Friends, here comes this ascetic, golden-hued, perfect in shape, after a meal of rich food and drink. Let us make no kind of salutation to him;

309 'but this honourable personage, born of a high stock, like a banner upon the earth, is worthy to receive a seat; therefore let us prepare a seat for him.'

310 The Blessed One thus perceiving their design by his keen wisdom, by the power of his kindness conquered their arrogance, like a banner blown down by the wind.

311 Unable to resist his words, they did all obeisance to the wise Ruler of the World.

312 But the sages, not knowing that this Prince of Sages
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was Buddha, addrest him simply by the name of 'Friend.'

313 Then the Ruler of the World, who knows the world, said unto them, 'Call not the Teacher simply by the name of Friend;

314 'For, Brethren, the Tathāgata is the Saint, the Buddha All-knowing.' When the Supreme One had made known to them that he was Buddha,

315 sitting upon the most noble seat which they had prepared, he adorned those Elders with the ornament of virtue with a voice like Brahma's voice,

316 and, attended by millions of Brahmas, set the Wheel of the Law in motion, and by the rays of his discourse

317 he also dispersed the pall of dark ignorance in the world, and by his lotus-like wisdom showed forth the lovely light of truth to those who could be converted;

318 thus like a King of great might, the King of Truth most wise, in the field of victory called the Deer-forest,

319 grasping the goodly sword of preaching with the hand of wisdom, caused continued loss to the kindred of those ripe for conversion.

320 He destroyed sins, he beat the drums of victory, true religion, the flag of victory, true religion, hard to win;

321 he uplifted, he planted the auspicious pillar of victory, true religion, and became sole King of the world, the source of bliss;

322 he delivered the people from the mighty bond of transmigration, desiring to lead them to the city of Nirvāna, longing to do good to the world.

323 Reaching the road leading to Uruvela, like a road divine, fair to behold as a moving mountain of gold,

324 he gave to some thirty Bhaddavaggiya princes the excellent, immortal draught of the Three Paths;

325 then, supreme in wisdom, having conferred the excellent gift of ordination, he sent them forth Brethren for the world's good, saying, 'Go on your pilgrimage.'

326 He proceeded to Uruvela, cutting off the matted hair of the ascetics without and within. Then, reaching the highroad, he, pre-eminent, as the moon is attended by stars,

327 so attended by these persons, free from sin, shining with six-coloured rays of light, he shed splendour
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upon those fair women the points of the compass, and delighted the eyes of birds.

328 Then he remembered the promise given to the glorious King Bimbisāra, like a banner to a noble royal lineage, abode of virtues; and desiring to fulfil it,

329 at the time of the peacocks' dance he went to the park called Laṭṭhivana, adorned with plantations of all manner of trees.

330 Bimbisāra, ruler of men, hearing of the coming of the great sage, adorned with the ornaments of joy and bliss,

331 entered that park, attended by his great councillors, made glorious with his hair the lotus-feet of the Teacher.

332-3 The other, sitting, bright with beauty, of excellent beauty, to whom the King of the gods did sing, worshipt by gods, Titans, and serpent Kings, glorious, (presented) Bimbisāra with the immortal draught of the true doctrine. Then to lovely Rājagaha he went, a city like that of the King of the gods,

334 and the mighty man was led by the King to the King's house. At the end of his repast, shaking the great earth,

335 he took the fair road to the lovely Veluvana Park, beautiful with lordly trees in full bloom,

336 and on a plot of earth beautified by being hidden under a quantity of white sand, filled with gentle waftings of fragrant flowers, adorned with tanks covered with all kinds of twining lotus, a wide clear place, a bower of creepers,

337 he whom gods and men ought to worship, he of the lovely lotus-feet and pure lotus-eyes, delightful jasmine teeth, ocean of precious virtues, protector of the destitute, king of sages, brilliant with golden rays, his face like a mild moon,

338 after performing a multitude of pure observances, uplifting the brilliant sceptre of tranquillity, brandishing the excellent sharp arrow of a Buddha's knowledge, he dwelt at ease in the supreme hermitage.

339 Then King Suddhodana, having heard that his own son had attained to supreme knowledge, and had set rolling the wheel of the Law for the world's good,

340 and near Rājagaha was then dwelling in lovely Veluvana, desirous to see his son who had become Buddha,

341 nine times despatcht nine ambassadors to the great sage with nine thousand men.

342 These came and heard the incomparable preaching of the King of Truth, and obtaining the supreme good, did not send back so much as a message.

343 The King, not seeing a single one of them, sent for a great minister, the orator Kāludāyi, who ever delighted in asceticism.

344 To him he said: 'Bring me my son, my precious jewel, by any means, and make a salve for my sore eyes.'

345 Then with a thousand soldiers he sent him also, and he came with his company and heard the Master's beautiful preaching,

346 and entering upon the path to sainthood, he renounced the world, honouring the mighty man, the omniscient, by laying his folded hands on his head.

347 and 352 Then he said: 'Lord, it is time to go to the fine royal city named Kapila, filled with men of boundless wealth'; and he described the journey. Red shoots and creepers most beautiful grow in the springtime, trees with lovely branches and bright green leaves upon them,

348 'with all manner of excellent flowers bursting into bloom and exhaling sweet odours; there are goodly forests filled with the voices of hosts of birds and beasts,

349-50 'many delightful lakes of blue water for pleasure, with plenteous flocks of sweet-voiced Kādamba geese, adorned with fragrant blue lotus, and water-lilies white and red, bright with trees that grow on the banks, with festooning filaments and flowers, with white sand spread about pure as pearls;

351 'spaces of earth bespread with green grasses, as it were covered with beautiful lapis-lazuli, formed continually by breezes gentle and cool.'

353 The Happy One, on hearing this fine description, approved of the journey, and said: 'What say you, Udāyi?' Then Udāyi replied to the Giver of Happiness:

354 'Sir, your father desires to see you, Suddhodana the noble and glorious King: let the Tathāgata, the supreme protector who longs to do good to the world, do this favour to his kith and kin.'

355 When he who longs to do good to the world heard the sweet words of this man, he replied: 'Good, Udāyi; I will do this favour to my kith and kin.'

356 Clad in a cloak of red, the Buddha, like a moving Mount Meru of gold, like a pure full moon surrounded by stars,

357 he moved twenty thousand souls, all peace at heart like himself, full of bliss, and along his journey of sixty leagues

358 day by day he halted, the conqueror, league by league, and in two months reached the noble city of his birth.

359 The Buddha, with bright and pure lotus-face, shining like the rays of the new-risen sun, his wide feet marked with discs, the abode of good doing, sole refuge of the three worlds, with body supreme and unconquered,

360 was worshipt by Suddhodana and other royal personages with golden vessels filled with wreaths of sweet perfume, with drums, lutes, and tabors, with goodly canopies, whisks, and fans.

361-3 Reaching the fair-adorned city, the chief of sages entered the noble, pre-eminent Nigrodha monastery, provided with beautiful cloisters, terraces, and bowers of creepers, resplendent with lakes of wholesome water covered with blossoming lotus, enlivened by the sporting of flocks of peacocks, the earth one mass of fragrant flowers.

364 The Sākiya, with minds full of stubbornness, thought, 'This Siddhattha is our son, our grandson,'

365 and thus they spake to the younger princes one by one: 'Do you greet Siddhattha; no greeting give we.'

366 This said, they sat down, putting the younger ones forward. Then the one eye of the three worlds, the tranquil subduer of the untranquil,

367 knowing their thought, said: 'My kinsfolk give me no greeting: very well, I shall make them greet me.' Immediately

368 entering upon the transcendent meditation of supernatural knowledge, and arising from his trance like a golden goose, the Illuminator

369-70 rose into the air; and there the supreme sage performed a glorious unparalleled miracle, unrivalled by others, like the miracle done beneath the gaṇḍamba-tree.

371 When the King saw this miracle, Suddhodana the mighty, sole ruler of the Sākiya race, filled with joy
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and bliss, he made all his bright hair beautiful by placing upon it the Teacher's lotus-feet; and all the Sākiyas did likewise.

372-4 The wise one, after a shower of rain, showered down the rain of the Truth, washing away the great ignorance from men's hearts; then on the following day, with his company, he entered the excellent city to beg from house to house.

375 Wherever he stept, lotus flowers sprang up, and received his lotus-feet pace by pace.

376 and 378 Then Yasodharā, standing on a fine terrace of the delightful palace, full of love, saw from a window gates and pinnacles, houses and watch-towers, all yellow by the rays from his body, and

377 beheld the hero walking for alms in the street, wise, calm, giving light, enlightener of the world;

379 and addressing the noble Rāhula, adorned and glittering with jewelled rays, said to him: 'That is thy father,' pointing him out.

380 She went to the house of the noble Suddhodana, attended by many waiting-women, and said, with respectful greeting;

381 'Sire, thy son, who formerly walked this city with the grace of a King of gods, now walks from house to house seeking alms.'

382 This said, she went to her own house, her large eyes filled with abundance of the water of joy.

383 Then the King of all other Kings, adorned like Indra, trembling, went in haste to meet the Conqueror, saying:

384 'O chief of the Sākyas, this is not the custom of thy family; walk not, walk not; O my son, never before has a King of our family trudged for alms.'

385 When the lord of men had thus said, the great sage replied, the chaplet of virtues: 'This is thy family, O great King; mine is the family of the Buddha.'

386 Thus he declared the Buddha's family, and standing in the same spot, declared the gospel,

387 uttering this supreme and beautiful verse, which brought happiness to the hearers: 'One should not neglect the law . . .,' etc.

388 Then the supreme one, after satisfying him by the gift of the choice flower of doctrine, at his request went on to his house.

389 The Lord of the Earth and twenty thousand like-minded
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with him, having satisfied the chief of men with the well of sweetness,

390 greeted him with other royal personages with rays of crested gems and folded yellow hands, sat down by the Conqueror.

391 Hundreds of fair royal women also, by permission of the lord of man, sat down there also.

392 The Conqueror, the tilaka-spot of the three worlds, after preaching the sweet doctrine, thought: 'If this day I do not go to the house of Bimbā

393 her heart will break with sorrow.' Thus thinking, the abode of compassion went with his father to the house, taking a couple of the chief disciples.

394 Entering, the Buddha sat down upon the Buddha's seat, shining like the sun with the glory of the six-coloured rays.

395 Bimbā approached the Teacher, bright with rays which shone from her body like vermilion powder, with lips like bimbā fruit, trembling like a golden creeper.

396 The Teacher, by the touch of his foot, extinguisht the great grief in her heart, as extinguishing a fire on the hearth by excellent cool water.

397 The King told the Teacher the great excellence of Bimbā, and the chief of sages related the Candakisnara Birth.

398 Then the three festivals of Prince Nanda having come, marriage, ceremonial sprinkling, and entering on the house,

399 the Illuminator ordained him even before the festivals, having brought him, though unwilling, to the beautiful monastery;

400 and when his own son, Prince Rāhala, followed him for the sake of an inheritance, shining with princely splendour,

401 and crying in a pleasant voice, 'Grateful is thy shadow to save,' and 'Give me an inheritance, give me an inheritance,'

402 him also he ordained, and brought him to the incomparable monastery. Thus the Wise One gave him an inheritance, by giving him the treasure of pure religion.

403 Thence departing, Sagata, the Sun, with the rays of pure religion, causing men in this place and that to blossom like the lotus, arrived at Rājagaha. Moreover,

405 Then the famous merchant named Sudatta, taking carts laden with much goods, came from Sāvatthi to beautiful Rājagaha, to the house of the rich merchant Sahāya.

406 This kindly person told him that the Buddha was born in the world, lord of men; and in the delight and joy of his heart he thought, 'The night has become light.'

407 Departing thence, the darkness being dispelled on the highroad by the power of the gods, he proceeded to lovely Sītavana.

408 When he beheld the Great Sage, shining like the full moon, giving out light like a blazing tree, rejoicing the eyes, he touched with his head the fair colour of the Buddha's foot.

409 Then, wise with hearing the doctrine, profound, abstruse, glorious, pure, he attained the fruit of the First Path, beautiful a thousand fold.

410 Having invited the Supreme Buddha and his company, ruler of the world, he offered a gift full of happiness, endowed with colour, scent, and taste.

411 He obtained the Teacher's promise to come to the noble city of Sāvatthi; and departing, on the way,

412 league by league, he bestowed great wealth, and caused to be made goodly monasteries resplendent with paintings.

413 Reaching Sāvatthi again, with its hundreds of palaces, fair with garlanded arches, walls, and gates,

414 which seemed even to rival the very city of the King of gods, full of all prosperity, merry with dancing and song,

415 he looked about him on all sides for a site worthy of a monastery, wherein should dwell the Blessed One, lord of the earth.

416 He espied a spot of ground where was shade, and water, and all else deairable, a park of Prince Jeta like to Nandana.

417 The glorious one bought this for a crore of gold pieces, for the Teacher's sake alone. There in that noble place, charming the minds of men and gods,

418 he caused to be made a large and noble perfumed chamber, painted, like a crown of the earth, fair with all flowers, beauteous with variegated canopies,
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its roofs adorned with strings of pearls and all sorts of jewels, surmounted with peaklike pinnacles, ever alive with rows of bells, all tinkling.

419-21 For the Conqueror's children also the merchant had made a spacious abode, the fair and noble monastery called Jetavana, furnisht with canopies and beds, adorned with bowers and cloisters, ever charming the mind and eyes, ornamented with blossoming trees of many a kind, having tanks filled with most cool and wholesome water, and covered with sweet-scented water-lilies and lotus, having beautiful wide terraces supplied with benches, and soft pure white sand.

422 Like the wide mountain Kelāsa, protected by the excellent and beautiful rampart of the Serpent King, helpful to all believers, this monastery shines, a very magic gem.

423 Then Anāthapiṇḍika sent a message to the chief of sages that he might come. The Teacher, on hearing the messenger's words,

424 with a large company of Brethren, set forth, and in due time came to Sāvatthi the incomparable.

425 A number of handsome princes bearing flags went before the Teacher, like gods.

426 Behind them came lovely young women, like virgins divine, bearing full pitchers, and in like manner,

427 bearing a full bowl, the merchant's wife, adorned with many ornaments.

428 The great merchant himself, with hundreds of rich merchants, approached the Lord, the great hero, to whom they did homage in various ways.

429 So Sagata the beautiful, chief of sages, was brought to the golden-coloured city, shining with the delightful six-coloured rays, and entered the monastery of Jetavana.

430 'I give this monastery to the Supreme Buddha with the oecumenical order,' said the merchant, as upon the Teacher's lovely lotus-hands

431 he poured from a golden pitcher choice scented water, and so he presented the beautiful picturesque monastery.

432-3 Having accepted the lovely and noble monastery, the King of Kings, the one eye of the three worlds, the glorious Teacher, the benevolent sage, sitting on the priceless decorated seat, preached to the merchant called Sudatta, to that lord (?) the great
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benefit, delightful, bringing joy to the three worlds, in the giving of monasteries, and of gifts to the helpless.

434 What man, save the all-wise one, the sole protector of the three worlds, even though he have thousands of mouths, is able to declare the great benefit which there is in the giving of monasteries?

435 Thus the far-famed one, having discoursed to him, gladdening at the same time the hearts of all men, spent his days going here and there, beating the great drum of the Law with an exceeding sweet sound.

436 I shall now recite the list of places frequented by he who gives happiness to the three worlds, the all-compassionate, supreme in the worlds, worshipt by gods, Titans, great Serpents, demons, and other creatures.

437 In the first season, the noble Conqueror, like a sun, causing believers to unfold like lotus flowers under the shining rays of religion, dwelt in the Deer Park in Benares City.

438 In the second, third, and fourth season the Protector dwelt in most lovely Veluvana, in the fair, noble city called Rājagaha, with its rows of streets containing many a precious shop.

439 In the fifth season the Lion Sakyamuni made his abode in the great wood near the lovely city, well-known under the name of Vesāli, brilliant with the jewelled aigrettes of kings.

440 In the sixth season, the Buddha, store of infinite virtues, dwelt on the great mountain of Manikala, illuminating it with delicate golden light, his lovely eyes like blue lotus flowers bursting into bloom.

441 In the seventh season, the incomparable sage, living an auspicious life, made his abode in the cool and spacious rocky seat of the King of the gods, preaching to the gods his doctrine, sweet, profound, and difficult to comprehend.

442 In the eighth season, the supreme Conqueror of Māra, the abode of good conduct, whose feet were as the full-blown lotus, made his abode in the delightful wood of Bhesakalā, on the mountain named Hill Su"msumāra.

443 In the ninth season, the royal Conqueror of garula birds, the tilaka-mark of the three worlds, having
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destroyed many a heresy, and the pride of heretics and serpents, made his abode in the Kosambī silk-cotton wood, most beautiful and fair to see.

444 In the tenth season, the noble sage, to pacify the bitter quarrel of the priests by means of the noble elephant, made his abode in goodly Pāraleyya, the spacious pine-grove filled with flowers.

445 In the eleventh season, the chief of sages, the infinitely wise, whose pure teeth captivated the eyes, who leads people to freedom from decay and death with the ambrosia of the gospel, made his abode in the noble Brahmin village called Nāla.

446 In the twelfth season, Sākyamuni the all-wise made his abode in a monastery, delightful with fragrant flowers and fruits, under a noble nimb-tree near the Brahmin village of Verañja.

447 In the thirteenth season, the wise Teacher of the three worlds, whose mouth was like a lotus full-blown, the goodly sun shining for the right conduct of the people of this world, the abode of mercy, made his abode on the beautiful Cābiya Mountain.

448 In the fourteenth season, the steadfast and majestic sage, devoted to the good of all beings, the lord of the gospel, whose hands and feet were like beautiful bandhūka flowers, made his abode in fair and lovely Jetavana.

449 In the fifteenth year, the sage, the lion-King, having destroyed lust in the kindred of those fit for salvation, like an elephant in a forest, made his abode in the picturesque jewelled cave of the great Nigrodha monastery on Mount Kapilavatha.

450 In the sixteenth season, the leader of multitudes in the paths of bliss, having reduced a most cruel goblin to a state of submission, made his abode in the exceeding fair city called Alāvaka.

451 In the seventeenth season, the great sage, the incomparable, whose fame is spread abroad throughout all the three worlds, made his abode in noble Rājagaha, fair to the eye, with its walls, gates, towers, and arches.

452 In the eighteenth season, Aŋgīrasa, having destroyed the dirt of horrible lust in the world with the sweet, wholesome medicine of religion, made his abode on the great Mount Cāliya.

453 In the nineteenth season, he made his abode there again, the excellent King of the Law, the sweet speaker, lord of the world, having with the sword
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of the Law destroyed ignorance, the great foe of the kinsfolk of those fit for salvation.

454 In the twentieth season, the chief of sages, the abode of purity, the tree of fortune, the magic jewel, the noble and auspicious vessel, good for the right conduct of all people, abode in noble and beauteous Rājagaha.

455-6 Thus the Blessed One, blood-kin to all the world, revered by the three worlds, pleased with the world's prosperity, full of good fortune, the sage all-wise, having from the time he became Buddha made no fixed abode, but making pilgrimage, his body shining with six-coloured rays, for the rest of the time, five-and-twenty years, made his abode in Sāvatthi and Jetavana, noble and beautiful, incomparably fair, and adorned like an abode of the gods.

457 Thus this sage abode for forty-and-five years, in his immeasurable compassion quenching like a cloud, with waters most sweet, the lust which arose in men's minds like a body of fire in a forest. May he bring bliss to the world!

458 May that fair maiden Wisdom, in the house of my mind, increase day by day, delighting all men.

459 By the merit of my compiling this meritorious Life of the Conqueror, may I attain to the Tusitā heaven,

460 hearing the discourse of Metteyya, ruler of the world, enjoying with him great bliss for a long time.

461 When the Great Being is born, as Buddha in the lovely city, the banner of the earth, may I be born of the royal stock, obtaining the threefold fortune,

462 and give to that noble sage large, precious, and goodly robes, alms-food, a dwelling-place, and medicine.

463 Becoming an ascetic in the religion, may I be possest of supernatural power, a great being, glorifying that incomparable one, keeping well in mind the three Pitakas.

464 May he predict, 'This man will become Buddha,' and may I in the future again and again give to the Buddhas alms which bring happiness.

465 As I go through my transmigrations, may I, like a tree of fortune, give excellent, sweet, and noble water, and all that could be wished;

466 giving my flesh, blood, and eyes, with a calm mind, fulfilling all the Perfections and Virtues, all self-abnegation and wisdom;

467 attaining to the highest perfection, may I become Buddha incomparable, and having preached sweet doctrine, bringing happiness to man,

468 and freed all the world and the gods from the great bond of transmigration, may I reach the noble city of peace and bliss.

469-72 By King Vijayabāhu, of Bhupāla's royal line, the ornament of Ceylon, done in his own name. (?)
The book was compiled by an Elder, wise, the abode of compassion, named Medhaŋkara, well-behaved, living in in a fair and goodly cell, goodly with cisterns, walls, and gates. May it always be pored over by the good! Here there are 473 stanzas, and according to the text 555.